The E-Waste Database

🌱 What can happen to e-waste after it is disposed of? Many countries are not equipped with suitable infrastructure to properly manage their e-waste. E-waste is notably not that easy to recycle as it has a “complex composition including toxic chemicals, metals, plastics and elements that cannot be easily separated and recycled”. According to the UN, “only around 15% of the world’s e-waste is recycled”. This also means that there are companies that offload e-waste in irresponsible manners, such as by passing it onto middlemen who then illegally move the e-waste abroad. According to the UN, countries in Southeast Asia are a major destination for e-waste. As some of these countries have strengthened their measures against waste trafficking over the past few years, more e-waste is now also making its way to countries in Africa. 🌱 Is the trafficking of e-waste increasing? According to the UN, there is “a significant rise in the trafficking of e-waste from developed countries and rapidly emerging economies”. From May to June 2024 alone, officials seized 106 containers of e-waste in Malaysia. The World Customs Organisation has found e-waste to now be “the most frequently seized item”. The organization has also found that there has been “an increase of almost 700% in [the] trafficking of end-of-life motor vehicles”, which are a considerable source of e-waste. Overall, one in six of all types of waste seizures globally are seizures of e-waste. At the port of Naples in Italy, even around 30% of all seizures are of e-waste. 🌱 How does the trafficking of e-waste work? The traffickers of e-waste “often outsmart authorities with new smuggling tactics”. Traffickers often mis-declare e-waste or hide it amongst other items. Some traffickers grind down e-waste and then mix it in with plastic flakes. This is done in an attempt to conceal the e-waste and then export it with paperwork for pure plastic waste. Sometimes, broken vehicle parts and other e-waste are stacked inside car containers. Often times, broken electronics are “wrongly declared as reusable”. In reality, these are “broken down for precious metals and then illegally burnt after they reach the destination”. 🌱 Is trafficked e-waste dumped into the ocean? It is not uncommon for ships illegally carrying e-waste or other hazardous waste to turn off their beacon in the middle of the sea, when they cannot offload their waste at their usual destination. This is done to avoid detection. It is an ordinary part of organized waste crime to then dump the illegal waste shipments at sea. Read more about e-waste trafficking here: - https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gvq1rd0geo - https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2024/10/05/g-s1-6411/electronics-public-health-waste-ghana-phones-computers - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17440572.2023.2217101 - https://ewastemonitor.info/gtf-2022/ - https://www.unodc.org/documents/bmb/environmental-crime/FINAL_for_printing_-_Turning_the_tide.pdf - https://weee-forum.org/projects-campaigns/cwit/

🌱 What does the EU’s Innovation Fund do? The EU’s Innovation Fund “is one of the world’s largest funding programmes for the deployment of net-zero and innovative technologies”. It aims to “support Europe's transition to climate neutrality” by 2050. It does this by “creat[ing] financial incentives for companies and public authorities to invest in […] low-carbon technologies”. 🌱 Why is funding being given out? Between 2020 and 2030, the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) collected an estimated €40 billion. This budget is used by the Innovation Fund to finance low-carbon technologies. Through past calls, the fund allocated around €12 billion to over 200 innovative projects. Additionally, nearly €700 million was allocated to six projects through the European Hydrogen Bank’s first auction. 🌱 What is planned? On 3 December 2024, the European Commission announced that it is planning further funding of net zero technologies. Through the Innovation Fund and using revenues from the ETS, the Commission will now provide €4.6 billion in funding. With a €3.4 billion budget, the Commission will launch two “calls for proposals […] to accelerate the deployment of innovative decarbonisation technologies in Europe, including electric vehicles batteries”. With a €1.2 billion budget, the Commission will launch a “second auction of the European Hydrogen Bank to accelerate the production of renewable hydrogen in the European Economic Area”. Those looking for funding for their batteries and net zero technologies have until 24 April 2025 to apply. 🌱 What is being funded? Each of the calls come with “new resilience criteria”, which are – amongst others – aimed at “protect[ing] Europe against dependency on a single supplier”. The general call for net zero technologies has a €2.4 billion budget. It will fund “decarbonisation projects of different scale, as well as projects focusing on the manufacturing of components for renewable energy, energy storage, heat pumps and hydrogen production”. To receive funding, projects must have the “potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions”, and they must demonstrate a “degree of innovation, project maturity, replicability, and cost efficiency”. 🌱 What funding is there for batteries? There will be a €1 billion call specifically for electric vehicle battery cell manufacturing. This will fund “projects that can produce innovative electric vehicles battery cells or deploy innovative manufacturing techniques, processes and technologies”. Moreover, on 3 December 2024, the Commission and European Investment Bank (EIB) launched a new partnership focused on increasing investments into the battery manufacturing sector. Through the partnership, a €200 million top-up (loan guarantee) will be granted to the Innovation Fund’s InvestEU programme. This funding will be used to “support innovative projects along the European battery manufacturing value chain” and “to address financing challenges by enabling additional EIB venture debt operations over the next three years”. Read more about the funding here: - https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_6184 - https://climate.ec.europa.eu/eu-action/eu-funding-climate-action/innovation-fund/what-innovation-fund_en

🌱 What was planned? Despite largescale international and EU opposition, Norway’s parliament approved plans for commercial-scale deep-sea mining on its continental shelf in January 2024. Norway was the “first country in the world” to do so. The plan was to allow companies to apply to mine for minerals and metals in 280,000 sq km (108,000 sq miles) of its waters as of next year. This is notably “an area bigger than the size of the UK”. The planned mining area is located along the mid-Atlantic ridge, at around 700 to 4000 meters below the water surface. The area is north of the Arctic Circle, between the Svalbard archipelago and Greenland. Here, the mining industry was looking to harvest cobalt, copper, zinc, and other rare earths from sulfide deposits and manganese crusts. 🌱 Why does Norway want to extract seabed minerals? In the deep-sea, there are minerals and metals – such as cobalt, lithium, and scandium – that are used in batteries and renewable energy technologies. While these are also found on land, the supplies “are concentrated in a small number of countries” and China has a lot of influence on this market. This is seen as a possible risk to the supply. Norway's government has estimated that the “sulfide ore deposits on its seabed [mostly] contain around 4% to 6% copper” and “3% zinc and less than 1% cobalt”. Yet, scientists have warned that the number of samples taken to date is “not sufficient to make assumptions about the huge prospective mining area”. 🌱 How have companies responded? At least three Norwegian seabed mineral startups had intended to bid in the first licensing round. That said, over 50 international companies – including Apple, BMW, Google, and Microsoft – have publicly said that they will not source deep-sea mining minerals or components made of these. Additionally, many manufacturers intend to move away from using cobalt and nickel in their batteries or plan to use more effective mineral and metals recycling in the future. 🌱 Why was the project paused? Norway’s Socialist Left (SV) Party refused to support the government’s budget unless the first licensing round set for the first half of 2025 was cancelled. As the result of an agreement signed on 1 December 2024, the government has now temporarily halted the licensing process for deep-sea mining. The government has, however, said that the preparatory work for the mining – including mapping the environmental impacts, carrying out an environmental impact assessment, and creating regulations – would still continue. As the Norwegians are set to vote in September 2025, the temporary stop means that the plans to start deep-sea mining cannot begin again before the end of the current government’s term. 🌱 Why is WWF suing the Norwegian government? WWF is suing the Norwegian government over its plans to permit deep-sea mining. It brought the case at a district court in Oslo on the grounds that the government has failed to properly investigate the consequences. WWF says “that the impact assessment which lawmakers used for their decision doesn't contain enough information to evaluate the consequences of mining on the marine environment”. In its impact statement, the Norwegian government has admitted that there is no environmental data for 99% of the relevant seabed area. WWF has said that it is expecting a verdict in the case in January 2025. Both sides have already said they are ready to appeal, if they do not get the outcome they are wishing for. Read more about the mining halt here: - https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/norway-stop-deep-sea-mining-says-party-supporting-minority-government-2024-12-01/ - https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9wlj8l8kr7o - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/dec/02/norway-deep-sea-mining-mine-arctic - https://www.dw.com/en/norway-suspends-deep-sea-mining-plans/a-70857614